A few weeks ago Steve Jobs stepped down as the CEO of Apple and although he still has a role at Apple it didn’t stop people from posting their favourite moments. So here is mine (I just happened to be fortunate enough to be there in person).

The year was 2007. The iPod was king and I was just settling into my new role at work. To put this in perspective:

• No Apple Retail stores in Australia.
• Nokia phones were popular, Palm had phones with Windows Mobile, RIM was profitable and Samsung mobiles were about as cool as a white Camry.
• Apple shares were under $100USD (it is now around $400).
• My Singapore Airlines flight count was 3

For work I got to visit the Macworld Expo in San Francisco, my first trip to the USA. As a special bonus I got a pass to the keynote, this is how it all played out.

• Queuing took a long time. I had ‘reserved seating’ but location was first come first serve. I had to run to get a seat up the front of the keynote (5th row from memory). Those who know me will say that I hardly run for anything but boy did I run.
• During the keynote Steve said that they were announcing a widescreen iPod with touch controls, a phone and an internet communications device. The crowd went nuts. After revealing that they were all in the one device heads exploded. In retrospect this would also have been a good time to buy Apple shares.
• Steve said that multitouch ‘worked like magic’ and we all had a bit of a chuckle. We take it for granted today but when swipe scrolling was first shown jaws dropped. The pinch-to-zoom demo was like the second coming. I’m sure some cried tears of joy (or something). The share price probably shot up a bit more.
• The thing I found most amazing was that the iPhone had what looked to be a usable internet browser. Again this is something that we now take for granted.
• Did I mention that the whole thing was all sorts of amazing? In the words of Steve it was magical.

Finally John Mayer then took to the stage, played a couple of songs and it was all over.

Long story short. I saw a Steve Jobs keynote in person, possibly his very best one.

And so ends my ‘thank you Steve’ moment.

Special bonus moment. John Mayer was on the street signing autographs afterwards. Then all of a sudden people started running to the other end of the street. The reason why everybody rushed off, Steve Jobs was exiting Moscone. John simply picked up his guitar case and anonymously walked off into the streets of San Francisco.

Bonus bonus. If you want to watch the 2007 keynote you can download it here: http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/apple-keynotes/id27583466